Infamous: Letters belonging to Black Widow killer Mary Ann Cotton, who was hanged in 1873 for murdering her seven-year-old stepson Charles, will go on sale next week

A set of desperate letters penned by a 19th Century poisoner known infamously as the 'Black Widow' before she was executed will be sold at auction next week.

Serial killer Mary Ann Cotton was hanged in March 1873 for murdering her seven-year-old stepson Charles with arsenic.

Cotton, who married four times, was suspected of poisoning 21 people in total, including her own children, husband, lovers and mother.

At the time of her death, three other murder charges and an accusation of bigamy were left to lie on file.

Until Harold Shipman, Cotton, of West Auckland, County Durham, was Britain's most prolific mass murderer and is regarded as Britain's first serial killer.

Three of her husbands died suddenly of 'intestinal disorders' or 'gastric fever' and she went on to collect insurance payments on their lives - but her third, James Robinson, grew suspicious when she insisted he take out life insurance.

Their daughter, Isabella, died after suffering stomach pains in 1868, and he threw Cotton out after discovering she had been forcing his children to pawn items of value in his house.

It was a short while later the police caught up with her.

Now letters written by the killer as she awaited being taken to the gallows are set to go to auction next week.

The series of eight notes offer a fascinating insight into her desperation as she prepared for her impending execution and made instructions to her solicitors.

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Paul Hughes, of Tennants auctioneers in Leyburn, North Yorkshire, who are holding the sale, said: 'It is very unusual to get letters like this, and they show she has no control over events unfolding outside her cell.

'When the letters start in July 1872, she was quite literate and her handwriting is quite strong, but as she becomes more and more desperate her grammar, spelling and handwriting all start to go and by February 1873 she was really struggling.'

Artifacts: The set of letters and a bible are a fascinating insight into the mind of one of Britain's most notorious serial killers

Cotton's prison begging letter weeks before she was hanged

On February 11, 1873 – a month after the birth of her 12th child – Mrs Cotton writes to Mr Lowrey, a pitman and stranger who lodged with her for a week before her arrest. She relied on him to conduct her affairs while she was in prison and here asks for money to buy clothes for her child. Six weeks later she was hanged

'Dear sir I take the opportunity of writing to you hoping to find you well as it leaves me improving every day a little strength... ....

I wish to know if you have given Smith any money if you have knot would you be so kind as to try to send me a little as I want sum to get the child sum close (sic) with as she has knon to come out with please write by return of post you can send either stamps..'

The letters are on paper stamped: 'County Gaol, Durham,' and were sent to William Lowrey in West Auckland. Mr Lowrey, a pitman, was a stranger who lodged with Mrs Cotton in Front Street for a week before she was arrested on July 18, 1872.

His descendants are selling the letters he received and the unusual lot are expected to fetch between £300 - £500.

Although their acquaintance was brief, Mrs Cotton relied on Mr Lowrey to conduct her affairs while she was incarcerated.

In one of her most desperate letters, she laments that 'Ie have kn no frends of my one' (sic).

The eight letters begin with confident, fluent handwriting as she instructs Mr Lowrey to employ a solicitor and to round up named witnesses who 'will be able to say how I treated the child'.

By October 1872, things are going wrong.

George Smith her solicitor of Bishop Auckland had sold her 'bed, carpets, knives (and) forks box and some little thing,' for £13 to pay for her legal costs, but when he finds she is to be charged with mass murder, he finds himself out of his depth.

Notes: The neat letters were written in the final weeks of her life and she was suspected of poisoning 21 people in total, including her own children, husband, lovers and mother

Pen pal: Cotton wrote to pit man William Lowrey, who was a stranger, but ended up helping handle her estate

Mary Ann Cotton was hanged in 1873 at Durham Jail after she was accused of killing 21 people